The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

I don’t understand all the hate for this movie. My 5 and 7 year olds (girl and boy) both enjoyed it. It held their attention with its beautiful graphics. It wasn’t scary by modern standards. I think most young kids would enjoy this at Christmas time.

Imaginative and visually appealing. Story line is engaging and as suspenseful as any good movie. Maybe too dramatic for very young kids but older kids should be fine.

The writing and acting wasn't that good overall. I didn't appreciate that the Sugar Plum Fairy character came off as suggestive at times in her demeanor. I get that she was evil, but really. Gone is the innocence kids movies used to have back in the day.

I had read such bad reviews that I was really regretting that I had promised the grandkids we would go see it. But was happily surprised at how well we ALL enjoyed it - both my son who is 26 and my grandchildren - boys and girls. I thought it was good as long as you don't expect it to be a ballet. Maybe wish they could have put more of the great music in the movie and it would have have gotten a 5 star rating. I thought the plot was interesting and surprising.

Honestly, why would you spend millions of dollars to have a mediocre movie like this, Disney? You have ostensibly good actors like Keira Knightly and Morgan Freeman. How could you mess up the Nutcracker story like this? Disappointed in how the character of Clara was portrayed. They constant zoom ins on her made up face were unnecessary. She was made to look and act older, which brings up a slew of issues there. Also the Sugar Plum fairy (Keira Knightly’s character) made some adult comments comments, if you listen carefully. The characters and plot were under developed. I think all the $$ was spent on costumes and special effects. The best part of the movie was actually the end credits — Misty Copeland and the other dancers were wonderful. Wish we had had more dancing and less boring corporate Disney storyline.

My 2 year old loves owls and so right at the opening he was enthralled. My 5 year old also loved the animals, storyline, and the visuals, and I had fun watching along as well. We are a multiracial family and I appreciated the multiracial representation of the movie. There were a few scenes a little on the scary side with the clowns and the mice, but those were brief and my kids didn't seem bothered by them at all. Another highlight is the plot twist at the end and my 5 year old asked thoughtful questions related to "good guys" and "bad guys" not always being who they appear to be. I thought Clara was a wonderful representation to girls and kids everywhere with her courage, intelligence, kindness, and interests in physics and mechanics. It's a fun family film if you are in the mood for a bit of magic and adventure.

Our family really enjoyed this

I haven't heard about the story of The Nutcracker before, so this review is going to be purely about this movie. First of all, this movie is kids-appropriate, however, selected scenes (like climbing rock) may not be suitable for kids since they are dangerous acts. Overall, Clara shows her determination of knowing the secret that lies within her present from her mom. I believe that this moral value teaches the kids to appreciate what they own because these items can be more valuable than they think. Secondly, this movie explores the nature of how some people will judge someone's behavior (whether they are good or bad) based on their physical appearance. In this case, most of the characters believe that Mother Ginger is the villain in the movie because of her physical appearance and this info has been told by Sugar Plum (who is "pretty"), which turns out that Sugar Plum is the real villain in the movie, not Mother Ginger. This part of the story has challenged our consciousness when we make an assumption towards someone that we don't know well. In brief, I love this movie and it will be a great movie for the entire family. Parental guidance is advised for the viewing of young audience.